Today (May 18), we celebrate George Strait and the fact that he is officially eligible to retire – because it’s his 65th birthday. In honor of the big day we’re throwing it back to 1982, the year King George had his first of many No. 1 singles, “Fool Hearted Memory.”

The mid-tempo tune, penned by Byron Hill and Blake Mevis, tells the story of a man whose heart won’t let him forget the woman who walked out on him. Every night he gets fooled into thinking that she’ll come back and spends his evenings replaying the memory over and over.

“He’s got a fool hearted memory/That won’t let him see/That she walked out the door/He’s got a fool hearted memory/He sits patiently/Here every night so it can fool him more,” the chorus croons.

“Fool Hearted Memory” was the first single released to radio from his sophomore album Strait From the Heart, the ten-track project that featured iconic hits “Amarillo by Morning,” “Marina Del Ray” and “A Fire I Can’t Put Out.” Though those are all good songs, only “Fool Hearted Memory” can claim to be the first of 60 singles to reach the top spot on country airplay charts.

In 2013, Strait embarked on his final cross country trek as a part of The Cowboy Rides Away tour. The 48-date run finished in June of 2014 in Arlington, Texas. The show broke the United States record for largest crowd for a single show concert with 104,793 in attendance. Though Strait isn’t currently on tour, you can catch him for a slew of dates in Las Vegas sporadically throughout the year.

Though King George has come a long way since the release of his first No. 1 single it is always nice to see where it all started. And on May 18th, we celebrate all of it – happy birthday George!